A grandfather in Alabama has been charged with the death of his 2-year-old grandson, who died after being left in a hot car for seven hours.
On Wednesday, the Oneonta Police Department said in a Facebook post that it, along with the Blount County Sheriff’s Office, Blount County DHR and Blount County District Attorney’s Office, was “investigating the death of a two-year-old male child.”
The OPD also said that the child’s family found him or her in a car at a daycare center just after 3 p.m. “However, the child was not under the supervision of the daycare facility,” police noted, adding, “A family member transported/found him deceased around 3 PM at the local facility.”
Officers thought the child had been in the car for a long time. At a news conference on Wednesday, a local ABC affiliate recorded Blount County District Attorney Pamela Casey getting emotional as she talked about the case.
She explained that even though the child was found dead at daycare, he had been driven there and the daycare workers had nothing to do with his death.
Casey said that the grandfather was Bill Wiesman who was 56 years old and the boy who died was Ian Wiesman who was 2 years old. Wiesman picked up Ian that morning and took him to work, leaving Ian in the car.
Wiesman “returned to the truck three times” and drove the vehicle all day, which Casey said shows “he always thought he took the child to daycare.”
She said that he returned to the daycare because he thought he had left the child there. Casey also saw that the child’s car seat was facing forward instead of backward. “So as a result of his behavior and his act, the child died from a prolonged exposure to heat,” said the District Attorney.
Casey didn’t know how much Wiesman’s bond was. He was at the Sheriff’s Office then and would be arrested and charged later. Multiple news sources say that he has since been charged with reckless manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.
Casey is a mother to a 2-month-old and a 3-year-old. At the press conference she fought back the tears as she talked about how she felt about the tragedy.
“It’s awful when it happens anywhere. It’s awful when you have to work these cases and you go home to your babies and you see what you see and videos. It’s awful. My heart breaks for this family. This family is very upset about what happened.”
“As a mom, I don’t think anybody ever understands it. I didn’t sleep last night. I don’t understand it, “said Casey. She also said that there is no “evidence” Wiesman had dementia.
Fox 59 in Indianapolis says that Ian was in the truck for seven hours on Tuesday when it got up to 90 degrees. According to sources, Wiesman is said to have told police that he went home for lunch at 12:45 p.m. and stood next to the truck to smoke a cigarette and play a cell phone game before going back to work.
Then around 3 p.m. local time Wiesman’s daughter called him and asked where her son was. Ian’s aunt went to get him but she heard he never showed up. Wiesman said he was sure he took the child to the daycare and then drove there.
According to documents from the District Attorney’s office when Ian’s aunt came out to the truck, she found Ian dead in the back driver’s seat of Wiesman’s truck. To date Wiesman’s legal representation status remains unknown.
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